"Darius seemed to be in so much pain." Delia sounded worried.
Lara approached Darius and placed the back of her hand on his forehead.
"The fever has gone down. You can give him turmeric tea. I will try to come again in two days. If I cannot come, and there is an emergency, send someone to a small house behind the town’s inn and ask for a man named Jethru. Tell him that I send you."
When Lara left the Lenard household, she estimated it was around 9:00 AM. Since running late, she followed the fastest route to Yarrow Hill: a straight line.
She decided to give the hill a name... Yarrow Hill. In modern times, it was non-existent. It could have been flattened out due to a landslide or quarrying commissioned by the government to reclaim parts of the sea near the harbor.
The route she followed was challenging. Thick vines and overgrown branches blocked her path. But didn’t she spend the last two years in the forest? If the ground below was unpassable, she would climb the trees and jump from tree to tree.
When she jumped down from a tree because she couldn’t jump to the next, Lara came face to face with two amber vertical slits.
"Thunder, it’s you." She exhaled in relief, reaching out to stroke the massive tiger’s fur. Thunder purred contentedly before flopping onto his side, paws in the air, silently demanding a belly scratch.Lara chuckled and obliged. Then, an idea struck her.
"How about you be my mount and take me to Yarrow Hill?"
Thunder, who seemed to understand what she said, rolled over and was up on all fours. It stretched before tilting its head toward Lara as if telling her, ’Come on.’
Excitement bubbled within her as she climbed onto his back, wondering why she hadn’t thought of this sooner. Gripping the thick fur near the base of his ears, she gave him a gentle nudge. "Let’s go."With powerful strides, Thunder carried her effortlessly through the dense terrain. In no time, they arrived at the slope of the mountain, where a narrow ridge led to Yarrow Hill.
Dismounting, Lara rewarded Thunder with a strip of beef jerky. "Stay here and wait for me, okay?" She scratched under his chin, and he purred in response.
She wasn’t sure if he understood, but she left him there nonetheless.
By midday, she reached the hill. She was in a different area than before. The eerie silence was the first thing she noticed—no bees, no butterflies, no insects. That meant one thing: poisonous plants. She made a mental note to steer clear of that area.
Lara quickly set to work harvesting yarrow, carefully selecting which parts to take. For some plants, she just took the flowers, while for others, she uprooted them entirely. When she was done, she had two sacks full of the herb.
Though lightweight, the bulky sacks made her look ridiculous, with a cloth backpack worn on her front, a bamboo one at her back, and one sack at her left and the other at her right hand.
Crossing the ridge, she found Thunder exactly where she had left him, curled beneath a tree, napping. His ears twitched at the sound of her approach, and the moment he recognized her, he pounced playfully.
"Oh, you really waited for me? Good boy."
She climbed onto his back once more. "Take me home, Thunder."Guiding him through the jungle, she soon reached the old hanging bridge. Dismounting, she patted the tiger’s head. "Thank you, buddy."
Lara located the pulley mechanism and raised the bridge. Before crossing the hanging bridge, she concealed the mechanism with soil, moss, and dried leaves.
Back at her hidden home, Lara unearthed the chest beneath the old mango tree. Her master had sealed it with a resin, making it waterproof and insect-proof.
Her master was indeed wise.
As the forest darkened, she decided to treat herself to a meal of binakol—chicken simmered in coconut water inside a bamboo tube. The aroma of the spices made her stomach growl in anticipation.
When she thought the chicken was cooked, she put out the fire and let it simmer in the dying embers.
She froze just as she was about to take the pot off the embers.
A distant cry of agony shattered the silence. The birds that had rested on the branches took flight in alarm. Then, another scream—this one more horrifying than the first—echoed through the forest.
Lara’s heart pounded. Hunters? What were they doing this deep in the jungle so close to nightfall?
Without hesitation, she strapped a knife to her thigh, slung Lina’s handcrafted backpack over her shoulders, and grabbed her sword, bow, and quiver before rushing out.
As she raised the bridge, desperate cries for help rang through the trees. It looked like the men were running toward her, and someone or something was chasing them.
She looked up at the sky, worry painted on her face. Darkness was closing in fast.
Lara sprinted toward the screams and was met with a gruesome sight—a pack of wolves feasting on the remains of a man.
Two others fought desperately against the beasts, but one man vanished into the trees without a sound before she could intervene. A sickening crack of bones breaking followed.
Looking up, Lara saw a pair of limp legs dangling from the coils of a massive python. She shuddered.
Lara pulled three arrows from her quiver, striking a match against the oil-coated tips before releasing them in rapid succession. The quiver, which held those arrows, was lined with a thin layer of oil.
The flaming arrows formed a protective barrier around the last surviving man—his sword clutched weakly in one hand, the other pressed against a deep wound in his stomach.
Lara leaped between him and the advancing wolves, welding her sword. The beasts hesitated. She gave out a thunderous roar, and the wolves retreated.
Working quickly, she gathered dry branches and lit a small fire, carefully controlling its spread and not burning the forest. The flickering flames kept the animals at bay.
Only then did she turn to the injured man, who leaned heavily against a tree, barely conscious.
As she drew closer, she froze.